Good evening. It's Thursday, November 20th, 2025. I'd like to welcome you to the meeting of the South Brunswick Board of Education and call the meeting to order. Please stand for the pledge of >> allegiance. I aliance to the flag of the United
States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Statement of advanced notice. The New Jersey Open Public Meetings Act, NJSA 1046,
also known as a Sunshine Law, was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting the interest is discussed or acted upon. The primary purpose is for board members to
discuss and vote on board business. In accordance with the provisions of this act, the board secretary has caused notice to this meeting 48 hours prior, including date, time, and location to be posted in the South Brunswick public
library and board office, filed with the township clerk and communicated to the home news and star ledger. It is also posted on the district website. Roll call. Mr. Pilowski. >> Miss Julie Ferrara. >> Miss Alicia Khan >> here.
>> Mr. Raja Krishna Mr. Barry Nathansson >> here >> Mr. Mike Mitchell Dr. Smith Raj >> here >> Mr. Rajes Sony >> yes >> Mrs. Deepakarthik >> here >> we have a quorum >> may I have a motion and a second to approve tonight's meeting agenda
>> so move >> Mr. Nathansson seconded by Dr. All in favor? >> May I have a motion for approval of the board minutes of October 27, 2025? >> Dr. Raj. Uh, Miss Khan.
>> Yep. >> All right. I'll hand it over now to our student representative, Navia. [snorts] >> Good evening, everyone. Let's start off with some high school news. This student senate fund vertical phrase fundraiser was a major success and we raised over $8,000.
A portion of the proceeds will go to their NJSC state charity which is the crisis response kines and the rest will support future government initiatives. Our most recent student senate meeting took place on November 11th. Student council focused the month of November on
supporting our staff veterans. Several bulletin board displays and posters were hung around the school to thank our eight staff members for their service. Additionally, student council is also collecting donations for Mr. Estroski, which is an an SBHS health and PE teacher, and his troops are currently
deployed overseas. Supplies and letters can be dropped off until tomorrow, November 21st. Student council has kicked off their annual Deck the Halls fundraiser where we decorate classroom doors for the holidays. This is a beloved SBHS tradition that we are very excited to
continue. We've already received over 50 orders from our teachers. There are also several giving trees set up throughout the school. Students and staff can purchase gift cards and have their names added to the tree. The gift cards are given to families in need in South Brunswick, and we really encourage you
to donate. Coming up, the class councils are also hosting their annual King of Pussia Mall trip. Currently, over 60 students are signed up to go. Yesterday, Mashia's Food, which is our food service provider, held a tasting event for members of our student advisory board at the high school. Students had the
opportunity to try various potential new food items and provide their input and critiques. This was a really great opportunity and the students thoroughly enjoyed it. MashUS is offering this at each of the levels of our school, meaning our elementary, middle, and high school, and we really thank them for it.
Moving on to athletics, the Vikings marching band is the 2025 US bands group 5 Open New Jersey State Champions on November 5th. On November 8th, they competed at the US Bands National Championships at the Metife Stadium,
placing fourth out of 11th bands. This is their highest placement and score at nationals since before the pandemic. We're incredibly proud of their dedication and performance. That's all I have for you today. Thank you so much for listening and enjoy the rest of your evening.
Thank you, Navia. I'll turn it over now to our interim superintendent for his report, Mr. Pilowski. >> Good evening, everybody. Uh, first off, I'd like to extend a sincere congratulations to our newly reelected board members, Laura Hernandez and Barry Nathansson, Alicia Khan. Um, and I'd
also like to welcome Devin Patel back to the board. He was a board member back in the day when I don't know years ago reelected back on the back at the Deis. Uh we're honored to have each of you on the board and look forward to next few years of your your uh participation as
board members. Congratulations. We have a few things uh just to appreciate everybody on. We have a on Wednesday, November 12th, we were able to host a parent academy. I want to thank all the families and staff for and community members who joined us. Special thank you to Miss Blair Eisman for
always organizing these wonderful events. Want to recognize our amazing team. uh Dan Bra, Sherry Ceine, partner Rajin Ponol and Skyler Gonzalez, Joe Brcetti, Meg Barry, Lisa Maganelloo, and Dr. Evelyn Mammon for support makes nights like that possible. It's a
wonderful parent academy on AI and how it works uh in schools. Uh also had uh this past week, November 17th to the 21st was American Education Week, which honors the team of people who work in our nation's public schools. I just want to be a big shout out for everybody, bus
drivers, pair professionals, teachers, cafeteria, staff, nurses, administrators, and the many more. We all do. Uh, all of you do an amazing job. I'm sure I missed a bunch of people in there, but uh definitely thank you to everybody who, uh, work so hard to make what happens here in South Brunswick
happen every day. Uh, we have a couple of upcoming events. Uh, Constable has a a turkey trot, 15th anniversary. uh 15 years they've been doing a a turkey trot over at Constable School. Uh 5K run. Uh
it starts uh November 22nd. It's uh please sign up. You can uh find it on the website. Um especially delighted to welcome Dr. Dana Miller uh the visionary who started it all as guest of honor this year. So we hope to see you there
Saturday, November 22nd, 2025 um for the 15th annual Constable PTO Turkey Tribe. Um, Heroes and Helpers with the South Brunswick Police Department. We're always excited for this program. It's an annual Heroes and Helpers program. Is going to be taking place at Target on
Route 1 on Wednesday, December 17th at 4:15 p.m. This is when uh one student from each school is recognized for their community involvement or leadership in some capacity. Students are given a shopping spree with personal uh police officer as their shopping assistant.
It's a wonderful program, Heroes and Helpers. And lastly, uh, we have saved the date for South Brunswick reads night. Uh, strong roots, strong readers. Uh, we hope all the district families will join us for our third annual SB Reads night on Thursday, January 15th at
6:30 p.m. at the South Brunswick High School. Um, lastly, this evening, we're going to have a presentation on some redistricting that we've been working on here in the district. Our core team will provide a presentation on the results from their work. I'm sure there are
already rumors swirling around South Brunswick with regards to um redistricting and please know we're staying in our current configuration at K568912. Uh the impact of this work revolves around uh the sending boundaries and a
K5 elementary schools. the overall impact on our community. Um, and rest assured, uh, the families impacted or concerns about their children changing schools at this time is not going to have a massive impact on, uh, the majority of our population, but Rob,
Pete, Christina, VC, um, have done amazing job. Jill Aign's involved as well as our transportation coordinator and, um, project deserves credit. and uh we're going to welcome them up and have them talk a little bit about their um redistricting uh project that they've
been working on for the past year. >> Yeah, we thought so. >> I'm going to I'm going to work from here if you guys are okay. You guys have the stage. I'm just the the opener and closer. >> You're the boss. Take it away. So, uh, good evening everybody. A little
bit about recon reconfiguration redistricting study. Um, just real quick tonight we'll hear an important update from our team leading the district's enrollment and budget impact study. Before they begin, I want to take a moment and just recognize the tremendous amount of work that these people have
put in uh to get to this place. Uh, Mr. Ratine, our director of special projects, uh, Mr. Sears and our director or excuse me, district music supervisor and Miss VC principal constable school have been at the forefront of this initiative. They uh they've dedicated
countless hours during the school day and well into the evening to guide this complex and critically important work. Along the way, they've partnered closely with our director of transportation, Mrs. Adnan, and whose expertise and tireless work has been invaluable as well. I also want to extend my
appreciation to the many staff members who've supported them in stepping in and stepping up. Um, constable staff, their assistant principal, Miss Lombardi, the music staff, the transportation department, and our nurses uh, flexib for their flexibility and understanding as um, your leaders devoted significant
time to this project. Um while a few individuals may be presenting tonight, the progress we've made on this project has been um outstanding and and just not made has only been made possible by the collective efforts of the entire district, but so many people are involved in this work. Uh we're grateful
for the commitment and the partnership. And as we get into this update, I want to start by sharing the reason we're doing this is because we have an enrollment and budget challenges that are coming uh to face South Brunswick in the next few years. um and addressing these best way we can right now and working hard to not sacrifice what's
best for our students. So uh what brought us about to this work like why why are we here? Well, this board has certainly been kept updated since the committee's formation almost about almost a year ago. Uh and the community updates have been provided frequently
along the way. We want to very briefly remind folks watching this evening about what brought about the need for this committee in the first place. um essentially why we're studying what we're studying and I'm going to turn it over to uh Peter and VC to have that
conversation and share um why we're here and how we got ourselves into this situation to to have this study. So take it away. >> Thank you David. Thank you everyone for having us here tonight and it's a pleasure to be back. Uh for those who don't know I'm Christina VC. I'm the proud principal of constable. I'm joined
tonight by Peter Ratine the director of special projects. Uh Robert Sears can't be with us this evening. um he misses all of you, sends his best and will be with us next time. Uh so to answer David's question about what brought about this work, uh the quick summary is
this. For many years now, our district's enrollment has been declining. It's been a steady decline, leaving open spaces in each building at each level in our system. However, a burst of new housing developments have been approved, are
under construction, andor have begun occupancy, bringing many new families to our township. As per the most recent demographer study, these new developments are predicted to yield 1,663
new students in the years ahead. At first glance, one might not see a problem since enrollment has been declining and space is available as a result. But here's where things get tricky. The new developments are being built
where there's land and space. The yellow areas on this map show where these new developments will be located. As you can see, they disproportionately fall on one side of Route 1 with the greatest impact to the Brooks Crossing Elementary School
sending area. If boundary lines were to stay asis, the new construction would have a much more significant impact on some schools than others. This image helps to illustrate this. If
our district doesn't take action, this is what the result of the new construction would be. Some schools or classes would be overcrowded while others would have open seats available leading to an inequitable educational experience for students and staff. In addition, some
schools would run out of space with enrollment exceeding their building's capacity. It's not that we don't have space overall to accommodate many of the new families. We do. we just don't have enough space in the schools that are
zoned to get the new families. So that is in short is what brought this committee to fruition. Recognizing the many challenges that this enrollment surge would bring coupled with ongoing fiscal concerns that have been well doumented and
broadcast over the past few years. Our former superintendent Scott Federer pulled this group together to explore solutions and next steps. Broadly, the work was to explore four options. The first, no change or status quo. This
entailed diving into the details of the developments to see if our current structures and boundary lines could withstand the influx of students. As we shared during previous communications, this isn't an option as the approved construction sites are moving ahead and
will yield a significant surge in enrollment. Another was to consider closing a school. This would address fiscal concerns and take advantage of the declining enrollment we've been experiencing. But again, we've shared that this doesn't work because of how quickly the remaining schools would
overflow, resulting in the need to reopen the building in short order. Reopening a building comes with cost. So that's a fiscally shortsighted solution. The third was to explore reconfiguring or changing the organiza organizational
structure of our schools. Any reconfiguration would of course include a level of redistricting as students would move within the new structure. Tonight, we'll share more about the reconfiguration models we've explored and why the cost of transportation,
challenges with timeline, changes in leadership, and more are causing pause with these models at this time. The final option was redistricting in and of itself, meaning without reconfiguration.
At this time, the committee [clears throat] believes that this is the best path forward. From the beginning, each presentation or update we've done has included how redistricting would have to be a part of any reconfiguration plan. But
redistricting in and of itself without the reconfiguration is the more conservative approach. What we would like to do now is walk you through what really got us to this decision and this point. So now Mr. Ratine is going to help us
take a deeper look and I'll be back. So the story starts by sharing the process that we've been using to do this work. The process is cyclical. We're constantly in a flow of work and information that evolves. So, let's take a deeper look at four key elements that came out of this.
Much research was done and we've highlighted a few things for you on the screen. As we've noted, we've reviewed the demographer study to see what predictions were made in terms of a number number of families, the breakdown of ages, and when the roll out is expected to occur. We created and deployed a stakeholder survey to the
entire SPSD community and carefully reviewed and compartmentalized every response submitted. We formed committees included a core team of leadership from administration, the board of education and instructional staff as well as the formation of a 60 person community team
to garner input from multiple perspectives. Additionally, gathering with former upper elementary school staff members gave important information to the reason UES was created, including strengths and weaknesses the model provided. We along with other members of our core team also took part in visits
to neighboring school districts to learn about their models or configurations that align towards some of our potential models. Additionally, much work has been done to lay the groundwork necessary for multiple models to be explored and for the most valuable of those to be built. Listed here are some of the things that
had to be done. This was by far the most time-consuming part of the team's work, taking several months to ensure that all of the necessary data was collected and systems were built. We'll briefly share more about a few of those during tonight's presentation.
As the work has progressed, some district transitions and system updates have occurred [snorts] that have impacted or influenced the work. For example, we transitioned from partnering with our former superintendent, Mr. Federer to our interimm superintendent, Mr. Palowski. Since Mr. Palowski has been our BA for
some time, he was already quite familiar with the work and as a result, that transition went smoothly. Around that time, however, we learned that there are significant limitations with what the transportation software could do compared to what we initially thought it could do. After much back and forth with
software companies and our transportation director, we found workarounds. The problem there was that manual calculations were required, which obviously took longer to do. Once we got the transportation hiccups worked out, we began to explore the models as we promised. Since a full
buildout of all models would be impossible with the timeline, the goal was always to explore multiple to determine the most valuable to actually build out. While working on the models, we learned about the departure of a key member of our leadership team, Dr. Mammon. Many of the models we were exploring would require deep planning
and oversight from the district's lead in curriculum instruction. So, that was factored into our work when determining viability of some of the models. Then in realizing that the district's ongoing budget constraints remain without a sign of reprieve, our interim superintendent also tasked us with exploring a new model involving our preschool program.
And we'll share a little bit more about that this evening as well. Then finally, we're excited by the earlier than anticipated arrival of our superintendent. We've already met with him and he's here uh and are looking forward to do so more often in the weeks ahead and months ahead as this work continues to unfold. And then finally,
we've shared updates on a regular basis with the community. We launched a website where there is information on the process and regular updates and links to all communications and presentations. This one will be here soon after it's recorded as well. At nearly every board meeting, there has been an update either via the
superintendent report or a brief like this that we're doing tonight. And finally, several letters have been sent to the community to provide updates at important junctures. We will continue to communicate in these ways moving forward. So, know that was a lot. I've shared the creation though of our
databases was integral for having valid numbers for this work. Just want to show you an example for reference. This will be kind of quick but within the database we built out many components. I am just going to quickly click through to show you some of what lives in this spreadsheet as we do iteration after
iteration after iteration after iteration after iteration. All right. Transportation. This is an important part. looks at students either as special education self-contained or as general education. Genesis or SIS system looks at things a little bit
differently. The two systems don't communicate well with one another for what we specifically needed for this work. So, we had to essentially make our own school by school database in order to have the information necessary for this work. Here's what we mean when we say extensive buildout by school. We determine the exact number of prek
students, the exact number of students sitting in general education classes inclusive of many special ed programs, the exact number of special education students who are in self-contained classes, the 10-year historical enrollment for the school, including the highest. Then we isolated self-contained
special education enrollment numbers, and then finally the kindergarten projections for the next few years. We went through every building and manually entered that information. Now, if you were with us for any of the updates, especially from the beginning, you remember this grid is one we had
received from the township, we requested an update recently and received a new grid uh a few weeks back. However, it's not necessarily fully currently up to date, and we know that's hard for the township and others to do. So, notice in blue here, there's an additional
approved development, which while age restricted, was just new to us. One development, one development's name changed, sorry. Uh, one development has been sold. One development states N for not yet under construction. However, we know that's
not right. We've seen it. Another development states N for not yet under construction yet already has 15 students that have enrolled in our schools. And we've also talked we've also heard talk of additional developments as well. Though there's a
fundamental problem with it. Obviously, we're not getting timely enough data and we know others aren't as well. Uh, and development's happening quickly, quicker than we can plan for. So, having the most up-to-date date information we know is crucial. So, this committee has showed up to new build
sites, talked to selling agents in the front office, driven by before and after school to check on progress. By the way, that's Beakman seems to be quite festive right now, right? The one in the middle top. uh kept current on development real estate postings and reached out directly to developers via cold calls and emails
to make contact. While we've been pursuit of the most up-to-date information possible, the updates and changes come fast and furious, often changing quicker than we can keep up with. And really, there's no one-stop shop to get it. >> So, we've been doing our own realtime
tracking by speaking directly with the developers and visiting sites. we have a better sense of which projects are actually moving and which units are realistically coming online. The timing piece is just as important as the overall projected number of students they've provided.
Another significant piece to our planning is ensuring that we know our facilities and spaces. Each of our school buildings are outfitted completely differently. Any reconfiguration or redistricting would need to take into account the physical structures of each of these buildings. bathroom accessibility, group spaces,
unique room layouts, etc. We need to know this, especially in a time when we don't have the money to make extensive adjustments to any building. Even just a redistricting requires deep knowledge of the buildings because not all of the classrooms, even within a building, are
the same size and can't hold the same number of students as a result. So, I'll give an example from Constable. Constable has four classrooms that are much smaller than the others. On a map, those rooms look like they can hold a similar number of students to the other classroom spaces, but in reality, they
can't accommodate a full class of older students at all or more than 20 students in the lower grades. Ultimately, just like we had to zero out where all of the transportation was coming from based on general education and special education, we had to zero out our buildings to understand spaces and classrooms. While
doing this work, we got maps from every building, followed up with several building administrators, secured scaled maps from buildings and grounds, and conducted site visits of each hallway in every elementary building. And circling back to something we
mentioned earlier, we have many special education programs in South Brunswick and self-contained programs max out at a lower number of students than general education. Some may have a limit of 10 or 12. Preschool maxes out at 15. things like that. So while the occupancy of
rooms has to be determined, the knowledge of the programs taking place in the buildings is equally as important. The reason we wanted to share this with you again is because the occupancy is a really hard thing to determine. The demographer and the architect, for example, see occupancy
very differently than we do once we put specialized programs into these classrooms. So we share all of that with you to ensure that you all know and have an understanding of the foundation upon the model buildout work that was done. With
foundational data in place, we were able to explore the reconfiguration models that came from the community stakeholder team's work. So the models to explore were these redistricting only as well as the model of K2 and 35,
the model of K3 and four five, fifth grade to middle school and remembering that each one of those models naturally embeds redistricting as we mentioned earlier and then the piece of the prek uh exploration of that expansion model.
>> Pete, real quick. >> Yeah. Can you just go back to that slide and be a little bit more specific? Sure. >> This this means that we would have K2 buildings and 35 buil K K2 grades in one building and grades 35 in a number of
buildings in the district as well. >> So correct. >> Thank you for clarifying that. That's absolutely correct. >> Yeah. Y >> So let's look at that K345 model. And David, thank you for clarifying because that is an important way to look at it. Um, and so when building this model, we
had to take into account busing students who would be former walkers or car drop off in their current elementary schools, meaning the district doesn't pay for them to use transportation right now. When we did this across the board, the transportation impact would require 18
additional bus routes, which would cost an estimated 1.26 to 1.62 million. In our current financial position, the sheer cost of busing alone halted the recommendation to move forward with this model. Now, the work done to explore the
K3 45 model came in handy when shifting to explore the K2 35 model. So, a little bit different than this, but similar in K2 in certain buildings, 35 in certain buildings. Many of the same challenges
exist. In the model of K235, we would still be transporting a significant number of students from their home school, which would increase transportation costs. Additionally, 35 would actually not fit in our two designated upper elementary schools. Think about that as Brooks and Indian Fields as the upper elementary schools,
and they wouldn't fit all three, four, and five split in those, which would require us to add a third upper elementary school. That poses an unique challenge, though, as grouping grades three through five um together wouldn't fill that third building. now, while K2 students wouldn't fit in the other
buildings that would remain. So, as such, we'd have to consider at least one hybrid school, meaning at least one school with a different grade level configuration than all of the others. While we've seen that type of model in action during one of the site visits we conducted in a neighboring district, it isn't preferred and it's not a good
scenario that we believe here. While the transportation costs are clear are a clear deterrent to moving either of these models forward, it's important to note that both reconfigurations would require significant partnership and oversight from the superintendent and curriculum and instruction department
seat uh which are in transition. So we took some time to explore the idea of moving fifth grade up to middle school. To be honest, in terms of cost, there's some interest in this model in the sense that many busing routes already exist and students from all over the district are already bus to the
crossroads site. Some buses would need to be added, but not as many as the K345 model. Additionally, there's a decent amount of space in the middle school due to the decrease in enrollment. And should the district ever need to build, this is one large site, and it would be more cost-effective than adding or
modifying multiple landlocked elementary buildings. However, the reality of this model would mean once fifth grade is removed, all the elementary schools still need to be redistricted because of where the new students are moving in. So that significantly disrupts all elementary
schools. On top of that, we would need to disrupt middle regardless of whether it's a 56 in one building, 78 in another, or two 58 schools. While it is a more viable option than the last one, there's still cost and there are still concerns about the possibility of more middle school
students moving in. Meaning, what if many kids move in that are in grades 5 through eight and we outgrow it quickly like UES experienced years ago? And finally, compounding all of that, the level of disruption to the full KH structure without again CNI and with the new superintendent along with
significant staffing shifts seems irresponsible to pull off right now. This disrupts elementary, disrupts middle, and increased transport increases transportation costs. Each of the three previous models involved additional costs. Now, recognizing this, Mr. Pilowski
approached us with an ask to explore the preschool expansion model in an effort to produce more cost savings. As we know, we expect to start the 26-27 school year, $3.2 million in the whole. As a reminder, preschool is funded through the grant from the state, not from our local district budget. Since
this model was the only that showed promise for addressing the fiscal concerns, we spent an incredible amount of time building this out from soups to soup to nuts. This one did have some savings, but unfortunately not what we had hoped for. In reality, this model of centralizing a prek expansion school
would have offset the diff the deficit anywhere from 1 to$ 1.6 million. The only way to do it though would be to centralize pre-K students in one of our existing K5 buildings, adding that building onto the existing Dayton and Deans building structures. Essentially
though, taking one of the elementary schools offline. This would result in overcrowding the remaining six elementary schools almost immediately at a time where we're expecting significant growth in the years ahead. In this case, while there would be some financial benefit, it would be a very short-sighted solution with our growth
challenges. Just want to mention in addition the pre-K program would not be able to grow within the district as well and there would be significant redistricting to all six remaining elementary schools in addition to maxing them to capacity. So to boot changes of any kind to pregate grant funding could happen and impact this plan. We know
that's an unknown. So the challenges with all the other models became obvious as they were vetted which is what brought us to redistricting only. Back to where David started us off tonight. Redistricting was not only one of the four big buckets we set out to explore at the beginning of this work, but it was also naturally
embedded in each reconfiguration model as we explored. As a result, we spent a lot of time with various iterations of redistricting and are confident that with further buildout and refinement, we will have a redistricting plan that will meet our current needs.
While there is still much work to be done in terms of the specifics, here are some of the benefits of pursuing redistricting instead of some of the other models previously mentioned. Disrupts a percentage of students but less than reconfiguration. Maintains a known structure during a
time of significant district transition. Provides a few buffer to track growth, which is a very real challenge. It doesn't have us prematurely spending on transportation as students start to trickle in, which we know is starting to happen. It allows us to write some
wrongs in transportation to open seats where needed, which brings some potential savings. And it prepares us for the projected sorry growth while allowing new leadership to get acquainted and inform long-term planning. And finally, it keeps as David
mentioned at the beginning, it keeps all other options on the table down the road if needed. So in the weeks ahead, we will be digging further into this work with the district's core team, community team, and leadership. The main challenge remains understanding the rate of growth
and building a plan that will sustain beyond the immediate. This slide is one that we previously shared and reminds us all while we're focused on the new developmental growth, we need to be prepared for housing turnover that will one day come. I'm going to turn it back over to Mr. Powski. I know he wanted to
elaborate on this and summarize where this leaves us. Yes. So, just real quick for for everybody who's online or in the audience right now, what we have in our in our situation, our current situation is the developments. So, we know we know some
developments are coming online. We're already producing some students in schools. Um, right now we are very aware that we have some crowded classrooms. We've done some things currently in our current um environment to shift students away from
elementary schools who are being impacted in this negative way. And any new students who enroll, for example, in a Cambridge school uh in grades K through three, those students are being moved to Mammoth Junction because Mammoth Junction doesn't have the large
class sizes that Cambridge currently has. Uh another uh elementary school that we have that's been impacted is uh Brooks Crossing. We know that there's a section in Brooks Crossing where we actually have 26 kids in a third grade classroom. Um the issue with Brooks
Crossing is uh simply that school is not around any other schools that we could transport students to easily to get them to another elementary. So we had a family move into Brooks Crossing. They moved in right across the street from
the school. And where do we send them? you know, we're going to pick up we're going to send a bus that's going to cost transportation to pick up a student who lives right across the school that they're supposed to be going to to ship them across the township to Mammoth Junction. It just doesn't work. So,
unfortunately, we're living through a scenario where we know we're we're pushing class sizes. Um, right now in Cambridge, uh, you know, class sizes are are capped at 25. Um, and I can tell you
if if anybody looked at our class sizes across the district, you can see the inequity. It's it's obvious. We have some schools that really have 14 kids in an elementary classroom. We have other schools that have 25 kids and they're capped. That's not a scenario that South
Brunswick is used to and it's not one that we support and it's not one that's going to um that's going to last past this year. Uh the whole reason for this study is uh Mr. Federer uh and I saw this coming. We knew that we would be here one day with these class sizes
impacting these specific um uh towns or or little burrows in South Brunswick. uh my our first year um together in in South Brunswick, we actually met with the township and the township was fighting all of these developments in
court, but they did tell us this is coming and they started sending us plans and uh Scott and I sat down with a whole u design of a development and actually went through and put numbers and had and did some math and figured out how many kids were coming to which developments
first. We saw it coming. We know it's coming. We know it's here. Uh we feel your pain. We know ex I've gotten some of the emails from some of the people in the community and uh we're very aware of it and we're we're using this model to address it. Um the increase there's two
pieces that we can run into with enrollment. The first piece that we're we're dealing with now is the development the enrollment coming from or increased enrollment coming from the development. That's the redistricting that we're putting on the table now addresses that
enrollment increase from the development. What we're seeing in in town though are the reason for our decrease in enrollment over [clears throat] the past five, six years is that the housing market isn't one where people are looking to sell homes right now and move to another town. Uh
we have um attritioned out a lot of students out of the district who have graduated, but the parents, their parents and families aren't selling those homes. They're sitting in big homes. I'm one of them. I'm I'm sitting in a big home. I'm sitting in a four-bedroom house with my wife and I
because what do you do in New Jersey? You sell your home and move into a a condo and you're spending just as much as you spent on your home every month. So there's a second ripple effect that can occur in our scenario which we have to be very clear with everybody. This
redistricting addresses the development. It doesn't address the housing market shift and turnover where 1500 students coming from development we can handle. We have another 1500 students that we lost in the past four or five year six
years to just a stagnant housing market. If those houses flip and the developments come in at the same time, we're looking at 3,000 new students coming back or showing up in South Brunswick. And that's going to bring a
whole another level of this work um to the forefront. So, this project, as much as it's going to say, as much as we're saying right now, we're looking at redistricting uh for the beginning of next year, this project is alive and is has to continue to work. Um the work has
to continue in the township so that we understand uh and are ready and prepared for if that second wave comes from the housing market turnaround or the the the h excuse me the current market sale of homes. Um and that increase is a whole
another whammy that we're going to have to prepare ourselves for. So um those are the two scenarios that we're preparing for. The first is yes, obviously the development. We see it currently in our in our schools. The second is the housing market and a
turnaround in the housing market and the impact that that could have on our town on our schools as well in and that enrollment. So that's the that's the real challenge. That's where we're at. Um and I just have a real quick here. Did I cover
everything? Oh, I didn't bring so much. So that being said, now that you've seen this and I hope to understand the best option uh for us right now is is kind of being in the redistricting model only because we're preparing ourselves for what we know is coming. Um and and to be
clear for the community as well when we when we move through a redistricting, it's not that we're going to say, "Okay, now all of the kids across the district in the elementary school level, every classroom is going to have 21 kids or or 20 students or 15 students." You can't
put a number on that class size because we can't determine where the kids are going to come from in those developments. You have somebody move into a development and you have five you from one development. You can have six fifth graders and and two first graders
and no second or third graders, you know. So, we can't depending on where the kids come in. That's just statistically you can't even put a number on that. So, just know that we're still going to have fluctuation in class sizes, but we're going to have to talk um amongst ourselves and a leadership team and a board to determine what does
that optimal class size look like? What's the max look like and what's the min look like? So, that being said, we're all set. >> And I would just say and I would just say that um the timeline that we had originally set forth when we started this work and first even shared with the
board is still on track. So, while some things may have like shifted here and there, we still plan by February to come back after all of the work of doing the behind the scenes with a final um with a final redistricting in place to present. So, I
just wanted to let you know the timeline is still active and we're still on track for that. >> Exactly. >> All right. And we do want to thank everybody for all the work that that's been put into this project. It's a it's a ton a ton of time and effort and uh thank you so much Peter DC and uh Rob
Sears if you're watching >> and Jill >> Y and Jill can't Joe >> thank you much appreciate it you guys have questions >> no >> can I say something >> yeah questions >> I just so I I just want to compliment
the committee and and the leadership you know Bob's on But you know, uh, Peter and VC done an amazing job and it's not that easy. The community doesn't really know on a whole
uh that the developments are kind of spread out throughout the town. They go all the way down Route One almost out of the town and all the way the other way too almost into Monroe. So, it's it it's kind of
all over the place. And the biggest thing is is last time we did a redistricting, we were talking market value homes. Now, we have condos, we have houses, we have rentals, we were
kind of all over the place. So uh and those and you know you guys and I have spoken and it's it's how the developers are are working their
development too you know because is it market value at this point? it was it way at some point it was way too high and they've dropped it already you know so it's real hard to get a kind of grasp
on okay well they have two bedrooms are there going to be kids you know and what age are those kids and we have no clue of that so it's a lot of guessing involved so I want to thank you for all the work you've been Anything
else? >> Any other questions? >> Let's move on. >> So, I just had one question uh if you don't mind. Firstly, thank you so much for your work, Mr. De VC. Um, thank you so much for all of the detailed uh
analysis that you've put in. It's a lot of work. I had one question you had mentioned about inter interview ues. So, can you expand on that? I I didn't follow what that was. Um many years ago um our district did
something like this and formed the upper elementary school. Uh so at that at that time it was a big change and we actually interviewed three district administrators. We spent like three hours with each one of them to learn how th that transition started and how it
ended. And then over the summer we held what we called a reunion but um it was basically an interview with all the remaining staff members that we could find. um we brought them to the board office and we asked them for the bene the strengths, the weaknesses, the transitions, the challenges and tried to
learn from what this looked like before. Uh so there was a time that crossroads north um looked different and had our fifth graders there and already had this sort of model that we looked at in place and it was called the upper elementary school. So we refer to it as uees uh lovingly. Um it did end um because it
outgrew at the middle school. uh it it grew faster than the these two buildings could handle and at that time the elementarymentaries could handle more uh and so after a few years they ca fifth grade came back to the elementary school but we have all that information data we've synthesized that we'd be happy to share any more you know if you'd like um
but it was really we wanted to make sure that we were researching with other districts researching in general but then putting it homegrown what did it look like when it happened here um and you know what did that feel like for staff for students for families um and what would it look like if we tried it And >> got it. Is that help?
>> Thank you. Yeah. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. >> All right. I guess we can move on. All right. So, the next order of business is board committee and leison on reports. Uh, first I'd like to call upon Miss Khan for um the policy committee.
>> Yes, the policy committee has not met so I have no updates at this time. >> Okay. Uh for finance, I guess Mr. Mitchell is not here so I don't know. Mr. Pilowski, do you have anything? Did not meet. Okay. Business operations. Mr. Krishna is also not here.
>> Did not uh we we did meet we talked about um community solar as a project. Uh there is a motion on your agenda to approve a bond council with Willins. Uh Willins just went through uh the community solar project with uh Brick
Township and they have all of the specs lined out. So uh in terms of a bond council, they're they're already prepared. Uh so us approving them tonight doesn't incur any expense. All the expenses through community solar in this project will be borne back to the
contractors who are building solar. So it's a it's a non uh expense motion. It just approves them to do the work for for the town or for the district. >> Got it. Okay. Education. I know Mr. Hernandez is not here. Um are there any less on reports? Anybody?
>> No, I'm chair of the education comm. >> Oh, sorry. Go ahead. So, so we did meet, we discussed at that point uh some of the CUAC stuff and uh uh Suzanne made a
presentation and it was a very good presentation and uh we learned a lot. I don't know Suzanne, you're going to bring it to the rest of the board at some point or >> Mr. Nathansson, that was the
presentation that we did with Mr. Palowski and Mr. on the achievement results, >> right? Thank you. >> Sorry. [laughter] >> No worries. Please don't report anybody. >> Okay. All right. Moving on. Old
business, we have none at this time. New business, we have none at this time. So, I think we can move on to our consent agenda review and walk through. Mr. Powski. >> Yep. So, pretty quick agenda, uh, consent agenda this evening. We have some transfers, um, financials, all of
your business office operations, the bill's list, accepting a donation. We have a couple jointers. Uh, just know that one of our jointers 15 is for a McKenna Vento student that's in Somerville. Uh, it's backdated because
it was from last year. They just notified us this year that they had that student and we went ahead and um had to pay for some transportation uh for that student. So the second approval of a contract is for a student with an out of district placement. So we have some
non-public technology orders uh preschool projected enrollment. We have a preschool operations plan. Um I can send those out to everybody. We didn't include them in the backup. Uh we haven't um historically done that, but if somebody's interested in that, I do have those plans and that enrollment
projection. Um we have our school district goals. We're doing a second reading and adoption of policy. Uh we have a statement of assurance for our building [snorts] checklists. Uh we're updating our Kelly Education pricing agreement. We're approving a service
agreement with the South Brunswick Township Aquatic Center over at uh North Brunswick High School. Uh we have an a resolution for our transportation. We have a resolution for our field trips.
We also have our harassment, intimidation, and bullying report that's approved. We have some out of district placements. Um we're approving for our uh out of district placements for the 2526 school year and we have some extension for some professional services
in our special education department. Um and then we have a contract renewal for GOMO. And we're approving the appointment of Willence um to serve as our bond council for our projects one for one specific project in that community solar. And
we're approving our budget calendar for uh the school district for next year's or this this year's budget calendar for next year's budget. And then you have your uh consent or your personnel. And that's your consent agenda. there's any questions
>> just a comment uh and my my observation and perspective uh more specifically about district goals. So first of all thank you I think the the W2 of or version two of district goals is is very good uh compared to the what we started with previously uh and thank you for
adopting to and aligning to the smart principle. I think it makes it much more clearer uh for us to to kind of understand what is the end result, how the district benefits etc. So that's great. I think we are going there but I still believe our goals are more focused
towards more on the administrative side rather than the student achievements and more on enhancing education for example in curriculum or or uh identifying more goal that we can achieve. It's a little bit of mix of approach like reviewing monitoring. I don't personally consider
that a goal. So I think what we should as a group have a little bit more aspiring goal that we can drive towards and meet towards it. So while again this is a good step uh identifying KPI is good. I love the the ZBB approach. I
really appreciate uh the 5% increase goal that you have for ELA and math scores. It's it's very good. But I just think if we jointly have a goal to really improve our district and take it forward and about I think we have to kind of do a little bit more uh on on
the goal set and especially kind of focus more on student achievements and how we can get more out of it. So that's that's my only observation. I think it's good. It's it's it's getting along and I understand the transitionary period. I know it's it's not always easy, but
that's an area I would say we we really need to focus a little bit more for us as a group to kind of move forward. Uh so that's my observation. I know we have back and forth. You have my feedback uh more on it, but that's an area where I think we as a group should should spend
some time on it. >> Any other comments? >> All right. >> I I need a motion, right, for this one? >> You need a motion. >> Okay. Okay. May I have a motion and a second for the consent agenda, please? Dr. Raj, a second moved by Mr.
Nathansson. >> Uh, please. >> Excuse me. >> Roll call. >> Yep. We're doing it. >> Yeah. >> Alicia Khan. >> Yes. >> Barry Nathansson. >> Yes. >> Dr. Smith Raj. >> Yes. >> Mr. Rajes Sony. >> Yes. For all except district goals. Uh
as I explained, I'm I'm very happy with what we have, but I think we need to do a little bit more um focusing on on areas which will take our school district forward. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Uh Mrs. Darthik. >> Yes. >> Motion carries.
>> All right. Moving on to public comments on any topic. >> We have some pre-registrations this evening for uh public comment. >> All right. I I I don't need to read the notice. Oh yeah, you can do your thing first. Go ahead. >> The board of education recognizes the
value of public comments on educational issues and the importance of allowing members of the public to express themselves on school matters of community interest. Complete copies of policy 0167 which govern this portion of the meeting are available to the public
at the auditorium entrance online or by contacting the board office. To permit the fair and orderly expression of comments, we ask that participants be recognized by the preciding officer and preface comments by announcing his or her name, place of residence and group
affiliation if appropriate and by completing the signin sheet. Please print legibly or we may be unable to document your name for the permanent record. Each statement made by a participant shall be limited to 3 minutes. No
participant may speak more than once on the same topic. Mr. Peloski will indicate when you have 15 seconds remaining. All statements shall be directed to the preciding officer. No participant may address or question the board members. No discussion between a
participant and respondent shall extend the threeinut time limit with a total time limit of 1 hour. It is our plan to listen to each member of the public. Once all questions and comments from all members of the public are made, the
board of education may respond or respond via email in the most timely and efficient manner available. All questions and comments will be noted. The board of education emphasizes the importance of respectful and professional expression of opinions and comments.
>> Mr. Paloski, please let me know who's registered. >> We do. We have Is there a Lynn Monday here? >> You're up. [clears throat] >> Hi, my name is Lynn Monday. I have three children currently enrolled in South Brunswick schools. I have a ninth grader
at the high school, a seventh grader at Crossroads South, and a fourth grader at Indian Fields. I wanted to speak at today's meeting to encourage the board to plan for school not to be in session on days when voting occurs. So five of our South Brunswick schools, so it's
Indian Fields, Constable, Brunswick Acres, Crossroads South, and South Brunswick High School are used as polling locations. Polling sites are specifically picked because they can accommodate a large number of people to both come and leave the school. Unfortunately, what this means for those
five schools and the students that are in them, they become accessible, they become accessible, sorry, to a large number of people without any normal security measures that are usually in place. So on a typical school day, if a visitor wants to come into school, they need to ring the doorbell. They need to
get into the vestibule and show ID in order to enter the building. But when voting takes place, all these measures are suspended. And literally, anyone is allowed to enter into the school, whether that even is their voting location. Our schools do their best to limit people to the voting areas, but
truthfully, access inside the school building provides more than enough opportunity if someone were to come with ill intentions. This year's election saw an increase in the number of threats at polling locations in New Jersey, including one at North Brunswick. And while South Brunswick has not had issues in the past, decisions about safety need
to be made with a focus on potential risks. We see many states across or many schools across the state proactively closing on election day. And I would like to ask the board to close South Brunswick schools on days when voting will occur. The date for this school year for voting still is on Tuesday,
June 2nd. The dates that will occur in the 2026 27 calendar are November 3rd, 2026 and uh June 8th, 2027. Having this conversation now and making the decision not to have school in
session when voting takes place gives us the certainty that we'll never have to answer the question, why did we ignore the risks and have children present in schools on election day? Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. We have um Mr. Sed.
[snorts] Good evening everybody. Uh my name is Arid Syad. I'm a South Brunswick resident. I'm a local local attorney and I'm a parent of two kids who go to Cambridge Elementary School. I'm here on behalf of many Cambridge families who are concerned about
classroom support and large class sizes at our schools. We appreciate the district's transparency and the written response we received from Mr. Palowski. We understand the challenges created by the S2 funding and the strain it has
placed on staffing. However, despite these challenges, the reality is many Cambridge classes have 25 to 28 students. My daughter's own first grade class has 25 students with a
teacher teaching for her first year with 25 rambunctious first graders and no support. I'm sure many of you here have heard about this specific class at Cambridge Elementary School. The teachers are doing whatever they
can, but the current structure makes it incredibly difficult to meet the academic, behavioral, and emotional needs of such large groups of young children. At back to school night, members of the Cambridge faculty shared
that teachers are struggling and feels that their hands are tied. They encourage parents to speak up at the board of education meetings because they feel they cannot advocate for themselves publicly. And I think that is a grave issue.
Our parent group now has over a 100 signatures on a petition asking for additional classroom support. Families are united, respectful, and committed to working with the district, not against it.
Now, I understand there's a redistricting plan in place, and I commend everybody on their hard work, but to be quite frank, it's not good enough. My daughter needs to go to school tomorrow. Our kids have to be in school until July, June 26th, and we
cannot wait until the new school year for something that may or may not help them. They're in first grade, and numerous parents are complaining. We all talk. We're all on WhatsApp now. Everybody knows each other and everybody
is extremely upset in the first grade and specifically in this class. Kids do not want to go inside the school building. Come to Cambridge Elementary School any morning and you'll see little children hugging onto their parents,
crying, not wanting to go in the building. And this is a huge problem. I understand first graders are young. They're rambunctious. Not many have self-control. That's why the teachers need support.
They need paraprofessionals or student aids, teachers aids. There was a program with the colleges. And I understand there's >> you're three minutes. Thank you. >> Thank you. I just want to finish with something needs to be done because these first graders do not want to go into the
school. Kids who were in kindergarten who loved school. Now they are scared to go to class and the board of education needs to make changes today, not in the next school year. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Mr. Devin Patel. Good evening. Deon Patel, uh, Dayton,
New Jersey. Uh dear Miss Vice President, board of members uh and the community of South Gronce community, I would like to take an opportunity to thank you uh for electing me to the this board. Uh I I'm honored and uh uh I'm honored by your
support and confidence in me. So I do hear all the comments and everything. That's what the all the feedback also did got during my uh campaign and I ran my election uh campaign on base of experience, collaboration and progress and that's what I'm looking committed to
uh delivering my promises. I look forward to working with you uh board of me education member my fellow board of education members my administrative team to make our kids future better and betterment of this town. Thank you. >> Thank you.
It's open. Any any other public comment? >> Hi everyone. My name is Kimberly Donaldson. I live in South Bronswick. Good evening and thank you for giving me a chance to speak. I'm here tonight as a parent who is
scared, angry, and exhausted. because my daughter had faced seven incidents of harassment this year alone. Seven. And when I finally reached out to our community to ask if anyone was experience this experienced this, my inbox was flooded. Parents from
elementary school, the middle school, the high school, all telling me the same thing. It's happening to my child too. One parent told me their child tried to take their own life because of the bullying they endured. This should never happen
ever in any school, let alone ours. New Jersey anti-bullying bill of rights is supposed to protect our kids from exactly this. It says harassment, intimidation, and bullying, especially motivated by race. My daughter's African-American
must be addressed. Our school did the investigation, and I'm grateful for the staff who tried, but it's not enough. The consequences don't the consequences don't match the harm being done and the sport isn't strong enough to stop this from happening again. My daughter feels
defeated. She feels judged by the color of her skin. And I know she's not the only one. We cannot keep treating these incidents like separate contained problems. There's a pattern and a pattern like these that keeps happening. Something is broken. I'm asking the board for stronger
actions, real actions. Mandatory counseling and sensit sensitivity trainings for students who target others with hate. Parent involvement with children is responsible because some of these behavior starts at home. More assemblies, more conversations,
more opportunities for students to be empathetic. A buddy program where older kids can mentor the younger ones so every student feel connected and seen. And above all, better protection and support for the victim who are suffering in silence. This is not a punishment. It's about change. It's about safety.
It's about dignity. As adults, parents, educators, leaders, we are responsible for the environment our children grow up in. It truly does take a village. And right now, our village needs to step up. To each to every parent listening, talk to your children tonight. Ask them if they're being bullied. Ask them if they
seen something happen to someone else. And if they have, report it. Don't let fear keep us from protecting our kids. Our children deserve a school where respect is the rule, not the exception. And I'm begging all of us, let's fix this together. And I wrote this last night and after I wrote this, my
daughter comes crying to me again because there's a eighth incident. She kicked and cried begging me not to take take her to school and I had to unenroll her today. So she's no longer in the South Brunswick system because the I just feel like we're not doing enough to
protect our children. Thank you. >> Thank you. Any other public comment? You can close the section.
>> All right. Uh we'll close the section of public comments. Everyone who's made a comment here today has been noted and uh Mr. Powski will uh reach out if there is any further action that will be taken. All right. [clears throat] So before we close
tonight, uh I also want to acknowledge uh Mr. Paloski, uh, this is your last meeting as our interim superintendent. >> Yes, it is. >> Yeah. Thank you so much. Uh, I do wanted to make I wanted to make a small, uh, comment on uh, you know, on your period
here as our interim superintendent. So, on behalf of the South Brunswick Board of Education, I want to extend my heartful thanks for the leadership, integrity, professionalism, and care you have shown during this transition period. Your guidance has provided much needed clarity and stability and our
schools and community have benefited because of your efforts. Your time as our interim superintendent has proven that good leadership is steady, humble, silent and mature. It's devoid of theatrics and loud proclamations. The theme that you have selected for our
district is grounded in simplicity and meaning for which we are very grateful. Thank you for the dedication and the time you've invested in supporting our staff, students, and families, and for helping paving the way for a smooth path forward. Thank you, Dave. >> Thank you. It's a pleasure.
>> I truly appreciate the opportunity. It was a learning experience. Definitely. >> Dr. Raj has a quick comment. >> Thank you. Yeah, thank you. I would >> I'm coming back to work tomorrow, just so everybody's aware. >> Yes, of course. Uh but I appreciate uh everything that you did and um you know
keeping the ship steady. Um and I definitely want to acknowledge uh the weekly updates you used to send. It was eye opening uh just to see uh how much effort that was going in. >> Perfect. >> Thank you. >> All right. All good. >> All good.
>> All right. So I think we can close uh our meeting for tonight. Thank you everyone who's watching and we've got a motion to adjurnn. Please move. Nathansson Dr. >> uh Dr. Raj second moved by >> Nathan by Mr. Nathansson. Okay.
>> All right. >> You have the next meeting. >> Yes. Our next meeting is Sorry, I don't have the date here. Um Thursday. >> Yeah, it's uh December uh 19th. >> December 19th.
>> December 19th, I believe. >> Okay. So we may meet next December 19, 2025. >> Uh 18th >> December 18th >> 18th >> December 18th. >> My mistake. All right. Okay. All right. Thank you South Brunswick. Thank you
everyone for coming here tonight.